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A big green GO Transit bus disgorged a bevy of giddy politicians in downtown St. Catharines Sunday afternoon, who gleefully announced the provincial commuter system will start offering regular bus service to Niagara this September.

St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced $2.5 million in federal and provincial infrastructure funding to build four new park-and-ride GO stations in Niagara.

Construction of the first station - at Casablanca Boulevard and the QEW in Grimsby - will start in June, with service to St. Catharines and possibly two locations in Niagara Falls by September, said Peter Smith, GO Transit's chairman.

The location of the new GO stations in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls still has to be determined, said Bradley, the provincial transportation minister, but GO always wants its stations to be close to a major highway, so they will be somewhere along the QEW corridor.

Rick Werner, chairman of St. Catharines Transit, who was on hand for the announcement, said his agency will make sure there are regular connections to the new GO station, while Regional Chairman Peter Partington predicted the new GO service will push Niagara's municipalities to finally establish an intermunicipal transit system.

Niagara's GO service will start with nine trips in each direction each weekday, Bradley said, and will connect with the GO Train station in Burlington. Most of the trips will be during the morning and evening commuter rush hours, Smith said, while the question of weekend service "is not yet worked out."

Smith also could not say how much a trip from Niagara to Toronto will cost, although GO Transit's online trip calculator shows a one-way adult ticket from Burlington to Toronto's Union Station costs $8.05, while a trip from Oshawa to Union Station is $8. Monthly passes or books of 10 tickets are cheaper.

Dykstra opened his wallet and took out the GO ticket he bought in 2005 and has been saving for his first ride from St. Catharines, saying he's looking forward to finally using it.

"There are lots of folks in this community who believed this would never happen," Dykstra said.

The new commuter service will help to reduce traffic jams on the QEW, bolster the Niagara economy and boost tourism, Bradley said.

"It will create jobs and enhance quality of life," he said.

"A bus like this takes about 50 vehicles off the road," said Smith, pointing behind him to the gleaming bus with a scrolling destination sign that read: GO service coming to Niagara Region.

St. Catharies Mayor Brian McMullan said the commuter service will allow more people to work in the Greater Toronto Area while enjoying Niagara's quality of life and affordability. He said St. George's Coun. Greg Washuta and his wife Cathy, who commute daily to their jobs in Toronto by bus, will be among the people who benefit, along with students at Brock University.

Sunday's announcement is part of $213 million in improvements to GO Transit, including a new rail station in Barrie, 20 new bi-level train cars and more bicycle shelters at train stations.

Several of the speakers at Sunday's announcement predicted that GO bus service is just a start and GO Train service will eventually come to Niagara.

"The rule of thumb is after bus service is introduced, it takes six years for train service," Partington said.

McMullan also said he believes GO Train service to Niagara is inevitable.

"This is just the start. There will be a train," McMullan said.

Private bus companies are already offering daily commuter service to Toronto, acknowledged Dykstra, but the more options there are for people to use mass transit, the more it will grow.

"The more buses we have travelling to Niagara, the more we are making people aware," Dykstra said.

Sunday's funding announcement will pay for four GO stations. The cost of operating the service to Niagara will be about $3.5 million a year, said Smith, with $2 million covered by fares and the remainder funded by the provincial government.

It's too soon to say how many riders will use the service, Bradley said, "but there is not a huge demand at this present time. This will increase awareness."

All the politicians who spoke Sunday congratulated each other and said the announcement would never have happened without co-operation between levels of government.

"This is a great example of partnership in action," Partington said, "and shows what can happen when we in Niagara speak with one voice."